X-ray radiation is used in the most diverse fields of application, inter alia also in medicine, in order, for example, to examine the structure and/or composition of objects. In addition to a suitable x-ray source, typically an x-ray tube, an x-ray detector is required for the purpose of detecting x-ray radiation.
There are various types of x-ray detectors, these differing from one another in terms of their design and their mode of operation. In conventional x-ray detectors the incident x-ray radiation causes a measurement signal to be generated which characterizes the intensity of the x-ray radiation, i.e. an average number of x-ray quanta per unit time. However, in some application areas the trend has switched increasingly toward more widespread use of what are termed “counting x-ray detectors”, in which in principle each x-ray quantum produces a separate measurement signal, for which reason huge resources are currently being invested to promote their further development.
Devices known as multi-pixel x-ray detectors are generally used for a spatially resolved detection of x-ray radiation or, in the case of a counting x-ray detector, of x-ray quanta. With these, a measurement signal is generated in each pixel whenever x-ray radiation or an x-ray quantum in the region of the corresponding pixel interacts with the x-ray detector. In this way all the measurement signals can be assigned to a relative position on the x-ray detector corresponding to the relative position of the associated pixel. A problematic aspect here is that x-ray radiation, or an x-ray quantum which interacts with the x-ray detector in the border region between multiple pixels, sometimes generates measurement signals in a plurality of pixels, thereby making it difficult to assign the corresponding event to a specific pixel. If such events are nonetheless taken into account, the effective resolution capacity is ultimately reduced as a consequence. If, on the other hand, such events are ignored, the result is a reduction in the quantum yield of the x-ray detector.